This invention relates to ultrasonic interrogation and, more particularly, to ultrasonic interrogating apparatus used for needle insertion.
Real-time ultrasonic scanners are commonly used in the medical field for non-invasive examination of the human body. Such a scanner produces on the screen of a cathode ray tube a two-dimensional, cross-sectional image of the body region being interrogated by an array of ultrasonic transducers. The transducer array is packaged in a hand-held unit. The transducers are mounted on one end of a grip that fits in the palm of the user's hand, so his fingers and thumb can grasp the sides of the unit. Sometimes, the hand grip also serves as the housing for the electronics.
Ultrasonic scanners are also used to aid needle insertion during medical procedures such as aspiration of fluid from an interior body region or biopsy performance. In such cases, the scanner interrogates the affected body region while the needle is being inserted, thereby producing on the screen of the cathode ray tube an image representing the relative positioning between the needle and the internal body structures of the region. A slot or hole extends through the hand grip from end to end and through the center of the transducer array for insertion of the needle. The syringe attached to the needle is positioned adjacent to the user's hand at the end of the hand grip and the needle extends all the way through the hand grip from end to end and the transducer array into the body of the patient.